Missoula Crime: Lots of Assaults and ‘Meth in a Cheetos Bag’

Though crime in Missoula this past week may have seen slow, with very few felony arrests by the Missoula Police department, County Attorney Kirsten Pabst says her office was busy with “more than a handful” of assault cases.

"We had an aggravated assault that resulted in a severely broken leg and injuries to the woman," Pabst said. "There was a partner assault third offense and then another assault first offense, as well as a handful of non-family violent cases including an aggravated assault in a homeless camp that resulted in a fairly severe head injury... and then there was an assault with a bodily fluid."

The assault with a bodily fluid charge was for an incident in which someone spit on a law enforcement officer. Of course, assault cases weren’t the only type of crime last week.

"There was a surreptitious visual observation case, three property crimes, two thefts and an embezzlement and then quite a few drug cases: one involved an alleged cocaine distribution at a local business and then one of the meth cases was at a casino where the suspect had the meth in a pipe in a Cheetos bag," Pabst said.

Pabst says drug sniffing dogs were able to help county deputies find drugs in two of the cases this past week: one involved heroine, the other involved, meth, heroine, cash, guns and pills all found in a car from California.